Patent Grant
9775402
This patent application is a U.S. National Phase application under 37 U.S.C. §371 of Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/JP2012/061982, filed on May 10, 2012, entitled “Shoe Provided With Outer Sole and Midsole,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in entirety.
The present invention relates to a structure of a shoe sole suitable for court sports such as tennis and basketball, for example.
In court sports such as tennis and basketball, one is likely to suddenly change direction or stop while running, or use footwork in a lateral direction or a diagonally lateral direction. During such a footwork, a lateral shake (vibration) is likely to occur in which the foot is urged to move in the lateral-medial direction inside the shoe. In order to realize a stable footwork, it is necessary to prevent such a lateral shake.
First Patent Document: JP2007-135824A
Second Patent Document: Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-60905
The first and second patent documents disclose increasing the hardness of a lateral portion of the midsole. Such a structure is likely to support the force acting upon the lateral side of the foot when changing directions in a court sport, etc.
Also in the first patent document, the lateral portion of the midsole having a high hardness is rolled up, and such a roll-up portion serves to prevent a lateral shake.
However, there is a hard outsole layer underneath, and if the upper-layer midsole apart from the bending neutral axis upon bending the sole alone is hard, the bending rigidity of the sole as a whole upon bending may be excessively high. As a result, the bendability of the sole may lower, thereby lowering the athletic functionality.
Also, if the upper-layer midsole is hard, since the layer close to the foot sole is hard, the impact of landing is likely to occur on the foot sole.
On the other hand, if the hardness of the roll-up portion decreases, the roll-up portion is likely to collapse and the roll-up portion is likely to be compressed by the resin stabilizer, whereby the lateral shake is likely to increase.
Thus, an object of the first invention, related to a shoe sole, is to improve the lateral shake preventing function while preventing the lowering of the bendability of the sole and the lowering of the impact-absorbing property via the midsole in the vicinity of the foot sole.
There are skeletal and muscular differences between legs and feet of men and those of women, and there is a large difference in the moment (torque) around the knee upon landing in tennis, or the like.
If the moment around the knee is large, there is a large load on the knee.
Thus, an object of the second invention is to provide tennis shoes for women, etc., with which the moment around the knee is reduced.
The first invention in one aspect is a shoe sole including an outsole 2 having a tread surface to be in contact with a road surface, and a midsole 1 arranged on the outsole 2, wherein:
the midsole 1 includes a lower midsole 4 of a lower layer formed by a foamed body of a resin, and an upper midsole 3 of an upper layer formed by a foamed body of a resin and arranged on the lower midsole 4;
a lateral roll-up portion 42 for supporting a lateral side of a foot from a side of the foot is formed integrally with the lower midsole 4;
a hardness of a lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 including the lateral roll-up portion 42 is a first hardness;
a hardness of a medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 is a second hardness lower than the first hardness;
a hardness of a lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is a third hardness lower than the first hardness; and
a part or a whole of the high-hardness lateral roll-up portion 42 is protruding in an upward direction past the upper midsole 3 on a lateral side of the upper midsole 3 so that the lateral side of the foot is supported by the lateral roll-up portion 42 from the side of the foot without being supported by the upper midsole 3 from the side of the foot.
According to the first invention, the hardness of the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 and the lateral roll-up portion 42 is higher than the hardness of the medial portion 41 and the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3, and therefore the lateral roll-up portion 42 is supported by the hard lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 and will unlikely collapse. The hard lateral roll-up portion 42 will unlikely be deformed in compressive deformation. Therefore, it is easy to prevent a lateral shake on the lateral side.
On the other hand, the hardness of the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is low as compared with the lateral roll-up portion 42. Therefore, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is likely to conform to the unevenness of the foot sole, and the bendability of the sole may be less likely to be detracted from. The impact-absorbing property is also less likely to be detracted from.
That is, even if there is a hard outsole layer underneath, the upper-layer midsole apart from the bending neutral axis upon bending the sole alone is not hard, and therefore the bending rigidity of the sole as a whole may not become excessively high. As a result, the bendability of the sole is unlikely to lower, and it may be possible to prevent the athletic functionality from lowering.
Since the upper-layer midsole is not hard and therefore the layer close to the foot sole is soft, an impact upon landing will unlikely be imparted on the foot sole.
Incidentally, a rubber outsole and a stabilizer made of a non-foamed body of a resin have been used to support the lateral side of the foot from the side. However, these members are harder and heavier than the foamed body of a resin of the midsole, and will therefore likely lead to a decrease in the athletic functionality such as foot bendability. In contrast, in the present shoe sole, the roll-up portion is formed by the midsole made of a foamed body of a resin, thereby realizing an appropriate hardness and a light weight, and therefore it will unlikely lead to a decrease in the bendability of the foot or a decrease in the athletic functionality.
In the first invention, in a preferred example, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 supports a lower surface of a lateral side of a fore foot section of the foot; and
the high-hardness lateral roll-up portion 42 of the lower midsole 4 covers a lateral side surface of a head 05 of a metatarsal bone of a fifth toe so as to support a lateral side of the head 05 in the fore foot section.
Although a large force, which may cause a lateral shake, occurs at the head 05 of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe when making a turn, or the like, the lateral side of the head 05 of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe is supported by the high-hardness lateral roll-up portion 42 in the present embodiment. This will prevent the lateral shake of the head 05 of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe, i.e., the ball of the little toe.
More preferably, the high-hardness lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 covers a lower surface of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe from the head 05 to a bottom 051 thereof; and
the low-hardness medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 covers a lower surface of a metatarsal bone of a first toe from a head 01 to a bottom 011 thereof and a lower surface of a proximal phalanx B31.
In such a case, the hardness of the medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 is lower than the hardness of the lateral portion 40, and therefore the bendability of the sole may be less likely to be detracted from. Moreover, the impact-absorbing property is less likely to be detracted from.
Note that a bottom refers to a portion of each bone that is close to the posterior joint and that is slightly expanding to a greater thickness and it is referred to also as a proximal head. On the other hand, a head refers to a portion of each bone that is close to the anterior joint and that is slightly expanding to a greater thickness and it is referred to also as a distal head. A shaft refers to a portion between the bottom and the head, and the thickness thereof typically changes smoothly.
More preferably, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is narrowed in an area of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe; and
the lateral roll-up portion 42 of the lower midsole 4 is rolled up in an upward direction in the area of the narrowed upper midsole 3.
In such a case, as the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is narrowed in the area of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe, the lateral roll-up portion 42 rises from the lower midsole 4 without the volume of the lateral roll-up portion 42 of the lower midsole 4 decreasing and without the volume of the area extending from the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 to the lateral roll-up portion 42 decreasing. Therefore, with the hard lateral roll-up portion 42, it is possible to prevent the lateral shake of the head 05 of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe.
In another preferred embodiment, a hardness of a medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is a fourth hardness lower than the second hardness and the third hardness.
In such a case, since the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is soft, the upper surface of the midsole will be tilted in a diagonally downward direction from the lateral side toward the medial side upon landing on one foot. Therefore, with tennis shoes for women, or the like, a moment which would be a burden on the knee is unlikely to occur upon landing on one foot.
More preferably, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 covers a lower surface of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe from the head 05 to the bottom 051 thereof; and
the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 covers a lower surface of the metatarsal bone of the first toe from the head 01 to the bottom 011 thereof and a lower surface of the proximal phalanx B31.
In such a case, it will be easy to prevent the occurrence of a moment which would be a burden on the knee.
Preferably, the shoe sole further includes a stabilizer 5, made of a non-foamed body of a resin, for example, arranged along a lateral side surface of the lateral roll-up portion 42 further on a lateral side of the lateral roll-up portion 42.
The stabilizer 5 formed by a non-foamed body of a resin further enhances the lateral shake preventing function.
Preferably, the outsole 2 is formed by a foamed body or a non-foamed body of a rubber and is rolled up in an upward direction further on a lateral side of the lateral roll-up portion 42.
The roll-up of the outsole 2 will further enhance the lateral shake preventing function.
Prior to the detailed description of the second invention, a test conducted by the inventors of the second invention will be described.
Using shoes of the same structure, male and female subjects performed a one-foot-landing action as seen when landing after a jump serve or when volleying, as shown in
The moment M about the knee is calculated as the outer product between the ground reaction force vector F1, extending from the center of load indicated by a solid line in the figures, and the lower limb vector F2 indicated by a one-dot-chain line.
If a low-hardness midsole layer is inserted in the medial portion of the fore foot portion, the low-hardness midsole is compressed significantly, thereby tilting the sole toward the medial side, upon stepping in during the one-foot-landing action. When the sole is tilted toward the medial side, the ground reaction force vector F1 shown in
Thus, the second invention in one aspect is a shoe sole including an outsole 2 having a tread surface to be in contact with a ground upon landing, and a midsole 1 arranged on the outsole 2, wherein:
the midsole 1 includes a lower midsole 4 of a lower layer formed by a foamed body of a resin for supporting a fore foot section of a foot, and an upper midsole 3 of an upper layer formed by a foamed body of a resin and arranged on the lower midsole 4 in the fore foot section; and
a hardness of a medial portion 31 of a fore foot section of the upper midsole 3 is lower than a hardness of a fore foot section of the lower midsole 4, and the hardness of the medial portion 31 of the fore foot section of the upper midsole 3 is lower than a hardness of a lateral portion 30 of the fore foot section of the upper midsole 3.
Now, as a shoe sole for correcting bowlegs, a shoe is known (JP 2005-224335 A) in which an easily-compressed layer is provided in a medial side layer below an elastic intermediate layer. However, with this shoe sole in which an easily-compressed layer is inserted below the elastic intermediate layer, the deformation of the easily-compressed layer is likely to delay when an impact load on the foot sole is imparted upon the sole due to the viscosity present in the elastic body of a resin such as EVA.
Therefore, although this conventional technique may be helpful for correcting bowlegs through static deformation, one cannot expect an advantageous effect against the impact load such as those from landing on one foot in tennis, etc.
In contrast, according to the second invention, the medial portion 31 of the fore foot section of the upper midsole 3 has a low hardness, and the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is therefore compressed instantaneously by an impact load, thereby bringing the direction of the ground reaction force vector F1 and the direction of the lower limb vector F2 shown in
On the other hand, if the hardness of the medial side of the fore foot section of the midsole is lowered without using an upper-lower two-layer structure, the amount of compression on the medial side of the fore foot section will be excessive, and a difference is therefore likely to occur between the direction of the ground reaction force vector F1 and the direction of the lower limb vector F2.
Preferably, a low-hardness area of the upper midsole 3 where the hardness is low is provided over an area extending from a shaft of a metatarsal bone of a first toe to a head of a proximal phalanx of the first toe.
By employing such an extent for the low-hardness area, the foot is likely to be tilted in the medial-side fore foot portion.
Preferably, the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is set to 40 degrees to 55 degrees in JIS-C hardness, and the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is set to 50 degrees to 65 degrees in JIS-C hardness.
Note that the hardness difference between the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 and the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is preferably about 5° to about 15° in JIS-C hardness.
With such a hardness difference therebetween, the tilt angle of the foot will be of an appropriate value.
If the hardness is lower than such hardness settings, the entire sole is typically likely to sink, whereas if the hardness is higher than the hardness settings, it is typically difficult to achieve a level of flexibility that is needed for the sole.
Preferably, the hardness of the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is lower than a hardness of a central portion 34, 44 of the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 in a medial and lateral direction;
a hardness of a lateral portion 30, 40 of the upper midsole 3 or lower midsole 4 is higher than the hardness of the central portions 34, 44 of the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 in the medial and lateral direction.
If the central portions 34, 44 have such an intermediate hardness between the hardness of the medial portion and the lateral portion, it will be easy to achieve a smooth slope of the midsole.
Thus, the second invention in another aspect is a shoe sole including an outsole 2 having a tread surface to be in contact with a ground upon landing, and a midsole 1 arranged on the outsole 2 and formed by a foamed body of a resin, the midsole 1 including:
a lateral portion 30, 40 covering a lower surface of a metatarsal bone of a fifth toe from a head to a bottom thereof;
a medial portion 31, 41 covering a lower surface of a metatarsal bone of a first toe from a head to a bottom thereof and a lower surface of a first proximal phalanx; and
a central portion 34, 44 between the lateral portion 30, 40 and the medial portion 31, 41, wherein:
the lateral portion 30, 40 has a layer of a first hardness;
the central portion 34, 44 has a layer of a second hardness lower than the first hardness; and
the medial portion 31, 41 has a layer of a third hardness lower than the second hardness.
In the second invention, the midsole 1 includes a layer of a lower midsole 4 and a layer of an upper midsole 3 arranged on the lower midsole 4;
the layer of the first hardness is provided in one of the upper midsole 3 and the lower midsole 4 in the lateral portions 30, 40; and
the layer of the third hardness is provided in one of the upper midsole 3 and the lower midsole 4 in the medial portions 31, 41.
Embodiment
The present invention will be understood more clearly from the following description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Note however that the embodiments and the drawings are merely illustrative, and should not be relied upon in defining the scope of the present invention. The scope of the present invention shall be defined only by the appended claims. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals denote like components throughout the plurality of figures.
One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to
As shown in
The midsole 1 is formed by, for example, a material suitable for impact absorption such as a foamed body of a resin such as EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer). On the other hand, the outsole 2 is formed by, for example, a material having a good abrasion resistance such as a foamed body or a non-foamed body of a rubber.
As shown in
The hardness of a lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 including the lateral roll-up portion 42 is a first hardness. The hardness of a medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 is a second hardness lower than the first hardness. The hardness of a lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is a third hardness lower than the first hardness. The hardness of a medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is a fourth hardness lower than the second hardness and the third hardness.
More specifically, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 and the medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 are set to an intermediate hardness, e.g., about 50 degrees to about 65 degrees, and more preferably about 54 degrees to about 62 degrees, in JIS-C hardness. Note that the hardness of the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 and the hardness of the medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 may be about the same or may be slightly different from each other.
On the other hand, the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 is set to a high hardness and is thick (coarsely) dotted in
The medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is set to a low hardness and is densely dotted in
Note that in
As shown in
As shown in
Note that the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 may be rolled up slightly in the upward direction.
In the case of the present embodiment, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 of
Specifically, the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is not covering at least one portion of an MP joint MP5 of the fifth toe, and the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 covers at least one portion of the MP joint MP5 of the fifth toe.
As shown in
Specifically, as the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is narrowed, the lateral portion 30 does not extend to the base portion 43, and the thickness of the base portion 43 capable of supporting the load from above is larger than other areas of the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4, thereby making it less likely that the lateral roll-up portion 42 collapses due to the force which laterally shakes the foot toward the lateral side.
The lateral roll-up portion 42 protruding in the upward direction past the upper midsole 3 has an anterior end 42f and a posterior end 42b in the longitudinal direction Y. The anterior end 42f is located anterior to the MP joint MP5 of the fifth toe and posterior to the tip of the fifth distal phalanx B15, whereas the posterior end 42b is located posterior to the MP joint MP5 of the fifth toe and anterior to the bottom 051 of the metatarsal bone B45 of the fifth toe.
The lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 supports the lower surface of the lateral side of the fore foot section of the foot. As shown in
At least a portion of the proximal phalanx B35 of the fifth toe and at least a portion of the metatarsal bone B45 of the fifth toe may be covered by the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 from below.
Specifically, as shown in
The lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 is at least covering a portion of the distal phalanx B15 of the fifth toe and a portion of the metatarsal bone B45 of the fifth toe. That is, in the vicinity of the MP joint MP5 of the fifth toe or the head 05 of the metatarsal bone of the fifth toe, the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 is exposed, and at least the distal phalanx B15 of the fifth toe and a portion of the metatarsal bone B45 of the fifth toe are covered from below by the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 and the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4.
As shown in
That is, the lateral line Ll, defining the high-hardness area, is curved so as to protrude toward the medial side in the fore foot portion, and is extending on the medial side of the MP joint MP5 of the fifth toe.
On the other hand, the low-hardness medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 may be arranged over an extent that covers the first and second metatarsal bones B41 and B42, the first and second proximal phalanges B31 and B32, the first distal phalanx B11 and the medial cuneiform bone, and may be covering the second middle phalanx B22. The low-hardness area may be arranged so as to bulge toward the central portion in the fore foot portion.
That is, the medial line Lm, defining the low-hardness area, is curved so as to protrude toward the lateral side in the fore foot portion, and is extending on the lateral side of the head 01 of the metatarsal bone of the first toe.
Note that the lateral line Ll and the medial line Lm may come closest to each other in the vicinity of the MP joint MP3 of the third toe.
In
In
As the areas are set as described above, the hardness of the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 is lower than the hardness of a central portion 34, 44 of the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 in the medial-lateral direction, and the hardness of the lateral portion 30, 40 of the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 is higher than the hardness of the central portion 34, 44 of the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 in the medial-lateral direction.
That is, as shown in
Specifically, as shown in
As shown in
Note that the layer of the first hardness may be provided in either the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 in the lateral portion 30, 40, and the layer of the third hardness may be provided in either the upper midsole 3 or the lower midsole 4 in the medial portion 31, 41.
In
As shown in
Note that the through hole 33 and the low-resilience part 35 do not always need to be provided.
As shown in
As shown in
That is, as shown in
In the present shoe sole, the lateral roll-up portion 42 is formed by the lower midsole 4 made of a foamed body of a resin, the height (level) of the rubber outsole and the height of the stabilizer made of a non-foamed body of a resin, and the like, are set to be lower than the lateral roll-up portion 42 in the area of the lateral roll-up portion 42. This realizes an appropriate hardness and a light weight of the shoe sole, and it will unlikely lead to a decrease in the bendability of the foot at the MP joint or a decrease in the athletic functionality.
The upper midsole 3 and the lower midsole 4 of the midsole 1 may be separately molded in primary molding, and may then be bonded together or molded together in secondary molding. Alternatively, only the intermediate-hardness area 41, 30 of
As shown in
Specifically, as shown in
The upper midsole 3 is fitted into the depressed portion of the lower midsole 4. That is, the upper midsole 3 does not extend to the anterior end 4e of the lower midsole 4, and the anterior end 4e of the lower midsole 4 is located anterior to the anterior end 3e of the upper midsole 3.
As shown in
For other than tennis shoes for women, e.g., for tennis shoes for men or shoes for other court sports, the upper midsole 3 with no hardness difference between the lateral side and the medial side may be arranged on the lower midsole 4 as shown in
As shown in
While preferred embodiments have been described above with reference to the drawings, various obvious changes and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon reading the present specification.
For example, the hardness of the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3 and the hardness of the medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 may be generally equal to each other or may be different from each other.
For tennis shoes for men, the medial portion 31 of the upper midsole 3 may be set to a hardness generally equal to the hardness of the lateral portion 30 or that of the medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4. That is, for example, the hardness of the medial portion and that of the lateral portion of the upper midsole 3 may be set to a certain hardness (a generally equal hardness).
For tennis shoes for women, the lateral portion 40 of the lower midsole 4 may be set to a hardness generally equal to the hardness of the medial portion 41 of the lower midsole 4 or that of the lateral portion 30 of the upper midsole 3.
Thus, such changes and modifications are deemed to fall within the scope of the present invention, which is defined by the appended claims.
The present invention is applicable to a shoe sole for court sports such as tennis and basketball.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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| WO2013/168256 | 11/14/2013 | WO | A |
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